Box Score

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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State baseball team defeated Central Missouri 4-3 in 11 innings Saturday afternoon at Rousey Field.
 
The RiverHawks (5-8, 2-6 MIAA) were able to earn a series split with a Mules squad that was the near-unanimous preseason favorites to the win the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
 
Junior designated hitter Cayle Shambaugh capped the game with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th after Central Missouri tied the game in the ninth.
 
UCM (8-7, 5-3 MIAA) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jackson Schnurbusch singled home Barrett Noirfalise. NSU responded in the bottom of the third when freshman Bryce Davenport scored on an RBI groundout by junior Braden Brown.
 
NSU pushed ahead 3-1 when seniors Ryan Staggs and Kyle Singleton scored in the bottom of the seventh. Both Staggs and Singleton singled to begin the inning and were moved around the base paths by their teammates.
 
Central Missouri cut the lead in half in the top of the eighth when an RBI single through the right side by Matt Molbury plated Noirfalise. The visitors pushed the game into extra innings after Brad Wilson sent a two-out, full-count pitch from NSU junior closer Seth Hudson over the left field wall in the ninth.
 
Neither team scored in the 10th, and the Mules were sat down in order in the top of the 11th. Shambaugh stepped to the plate to lead off the home half of the 11th, and he belted the first pitch he saw over the right field fence for the walk-off victory.
 
The home run was the first of the season for Shambaugh, who is competing in his first season as a member of the baseball team after spending two years on the NSU football squad.
 
The Mules outhit Northeastern State 9-6, and both squads committed two errors.
 
NSU's six hits were spread across six different batters, and Wilson and Noirfalise both went 2-for-5 to pace the visitors.
 
Junior Bryan McClellan (1-1) tossed the final 2.1 innings on the mound for NSU to earn his first victory as a RiverHawk. He struck out four and did not allow a hit or a walk, sitting down all seven batters he faced.
 
Junior Waylon Davis was called on to start for Northeastern State, and he lasted 4.1 innings. He conceded one run on four hits. Freshman Ryan Helsley pitched the next 1.2 frames and did not give up a run, while only allowing one hit. Hudson threw 2.2 innings of relief and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits.
 
UCM reliever A.J. Walkenhorst (0-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up the Shambaugh walk-off. He threw the final 4.0 innings and allowed just two hits, while striking out six. Kyle Gehrs started for the Mules and allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits in 6.0 innings.
 
Northeastern State will take the midweek off before playing host to Lindenwood for a four-game set beginning at 2 p.m. March 7. 
 
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